Intranet spending hits $11 billion, says IDC

A new report from IDC says that intranet spending reached a monstrous $10.9 billion in 1998, covering one-quarter of funding spent on Web initiatives.

In its new report, The IDC Intranet Fact Book: First Half 1999, IDC also reveals that over half of larger U.S. organizations had intranets by the end of last year, with 30 million users logged on (predictably, the cost of adding employees is declining). Also, application developers are looking closer at intranets as an alternative means to reaching users.

IDC said to expect a dramatic increase in intranet spending as the medium evolves from displaying static information (e.g. as a publishing/viewing tool) to offering more dynamic content and business transactions (e.g. extranet transactions, absent security concerns).

But while intranets continue to sprout across the corporate landscape, consolidation and centralization of content will become more of a concern, according to IDC Collaborative Technologies VP Ian Campbell.

The report is available online for download or by contacting IDC's Mike Comiskey (508-935-4498) or Patrick Gorman (508-935-4369)